Macksville's Kristina Murphy goes in for two playing against Spearville.

Dec. 4, 2012
12:16 p.m.

Macksville's Mustangs came out even 1-1 in Larned's Keady Basketball Classic in first round action Monday afternoon, the boys winning against Spearville's Lancers 56-40 and the girls losing to the Lady Lancers 30-51.
Buoyed by their long two and three-point shooting, the Macksville boys scored most of their long balls in the first two quarters, leading by halftme against Spearville 26-13.
The Lancers staged a come-back during the second half getting to within eight, but after a Kuckelman time out, the Stangs pulled away for the big win, guaranteeing Macksville a place in the semi's.
Neither team did much scoring starting out, each struggling to make a score in a fast paced first quarter. Fortunately, the long shots started falling for the Stangs. The Macksville gents led by four after one 10-6, continued hitting the trey and doubled the score going into the locker room 26-13.
The score after three quarters had Macksville leading 45-26, with the final score Macksville 56, Spearville 40.
Scoring: Adolfo Ibarra 15, Tanner Tranbarger 12, Hugo Flores 12, Jorden Welch 10, Clayton Wood 4, Billy Burnett 3.
Three point goals: Flores 2, Tranbarger, Ibarra, Welch, Burnett.
The Mustang boys will be playing the winner of the Larned vs. Kiowa Co. match on Friday evening.
As the Macksville girls were in their pre-game warm up, at the other end, the Spearville girls showed where much of their strength comes from - their size. So much so, they towered over the much shorter Lady Stangs, the Lancers suiting up two six footers and one standing at 5'11".
And that showed in the game that followed, especially early on in the first quarter and all of the second half.
In the first quarter, the Lancers used that height, scoring almost all of their points in the paint, with Spearville out in front 0-8. After that, things started evening up a bit with both teams scoring six apiece, Spearville taking a 6-14 lead.
Both teams strtuggled in the second quarter, the Lady Stangs making just one free throw while Spearville had six points. Then with 3:29 left on the clock, Macksville shortened Spearville's 7-20 lead by four, going into the second half behind 11-20.
The Lancers outscored the Stangs 8-20 in the third while both teams made 11 each in the final quarter, Spearville taking the win 30-51.
The Lady Stang will move on into the consolation bracket, taking on Kiowa County on Thursday evening at Larned's Middle School.